Method and apparatus for fast or negative acknowledgement in a mobile communication system

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided to determine whether to include acknowledgement information within radio link control/medium access control (RLC/MAC) data transfer blocks. If the acknowledgement information is to be included in the data transfer blocks it may have a variable length. The acknowledgement information may also be encoded independently of all other parts of the RLC/MAC data transfer block.

1 . A method, comprising:
 including acknowledgement information in a data transfer block, and   encoding the acknowledgement information independently of at least part of the data transfer block.   
   
   
       2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the acknowledgement information comprises a variable length acknowledgement bitmap. 
   
   
       3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the data transfer block comprises at least one data block. 
   
   
       4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the data transfer block comprises a header comprising protocol information. 
   
   
       5 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the header indicates the acknowledgement information is included in the data transfer block. 
   
   
       6 . The method according to  claim 4 , wherein the header indicates the length of the acknowledgement information. 
   
   
       7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the acknowledgement information comprises an address identifying a temporary block flow to which the acknowledgement information is related. 
   
   
       8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the acknowledgement information comprises a starting sequence number. 
   
   
       9 . A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage structure embodying computer program code thereon for execution by a computer processor, wherein said computer program code comprises instructions for performing a method comprising:
 including acknowledgement information in a data transfer block, and   encoding the acknowledgement information independently of at least part of the data transfer block.   
   
   
       10 . The computer program product according to  claim 9 , wherein the acknowledgement information comprises a variable length acknowledgement bitmap. 
   
   
       11 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a module configured to include acknowledgement information in a data transfer block; and   a modulator configured to encode the acknowledgement information independently of the data transfer block.   
   
   
       12 . The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein the acknowledgement information comprises a variable length acknowledgement bitmap. 
   
   
       13 . The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein the data transfer block comprises at least one data block. 
   
   
       14 . The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein the data transfer block comprises a header comprising protocol information. 
   
   
       15 . The apparatus according to  claim 14 , wherein the-header indicates the acknowledgement information is included in the data transfer block. 
   
   
       16 . The apparatus according to  claim 14 , wherein the header indicates the length of the acknowledgement information. 
   
   
       17 . The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein the acknowledgement information comprises an address identifying a temporary block flow to which the acknowledgement information is related. 
   
   
       18 . The apparatus according to  claim 11 , wherein the acknowledgement information comprises a starting sequence number. 
   
   
       19 . An apparatus, comprising:
 means for including acknowledgement information in a data transfer block; and   means for encoding the acknowledgement information independently of the data transfer block.   
   
   
       20 . The apparatus according to  claim 19 , wherein the acknowledgement information comprises a variable length acknowledgement bitmap. 
   
   
       21 . A system, comprising:
 a transmitting entity; and   a receiving entity;   wherein the transmitting entity comprises a module for including acknowledgement information in a data transfer block for transmission to the receiving entity;   wherein the transmitting entity comprises a modulator for encoding the acknowledgement information independently of the data transfer block.   
   
   
       22 . The system according to  claim 21 , wherein the acknowledgement information comprises a variable length acknowledgement bitmap. 
   
   
       23 . The system according to  claim 21 , wherein the data transfer block comprises at least one data block. 
   
   
       24 . The system according to  claim 21 , wherein the data transfer block comprises a header comprising protocol information.